Brothers
by cherylwoo
Summary: Arthur is not pleased when his brothers start to stalk and get to know Yao better. Yao is his and his alone, right? England/China. (Warning: possessive England).


A/N – This is my first time writing the UK brothers. I have always focused on Yao and his siblings, but now I decided to give Arthur's siblings a try. This may not be very good, and I may have gotten the UK brothers' personalities entirely wrong. So… Scotland = Alistair, Wales = Dylan, Northern Ireland = Liam. Also, I am not familiar with Scottish, Welsh and Irish English, so I can't make the UK brothers speak in their native accent. So I really hope you don't mind them talking in normal British English…

When Arthur opened the door to his house, the smell of cottage pie wafted through his nose. He could feel himself salivating – cottage pie was his all-time favourite English food.

Arthur paused for a while and frowned. Who was cooking? He had left an empty house this morning. The only person who could enter his house as he liked was his companion Yao, to whom he had given a copy of his key. But Yao didn't know how to cook English food.

Uncertainly, Arthur made his way to his kitchen to find the culprit who was cooking his favourite dish.

Arthur's features darkened and his eyes narrowed immediately when he saw the occupants of the kitchen. Well, he was pleased to see a particular Asian there, but he was most displeased at seeing the European of the duo there – his brother, Alistair.

"It should be done in another ten minutes," Alistair was telling Yao. "If you take it out and it doesn't look brown enough, you can grill it for a few minutes."

Yao was looking into the oven. "Grill?"

"You just cook it in high heat without oil," explained Alistair. "I usually use a physical grill, but setting it up and washing it can be a hassle, and since you only want to do it for a few minutes, you can preheat a pan and then put the pie in."

Yao nodded excitedly.

Arthur decided to break up the interaction between his brother and his lover. "Alistair, what are you doing here?"

Clearly surprised to hear his younger brother's voice, Alistair's head shot up and he quickly turned around. "Artie!" he exclaimed.

Arthur dropped his bag on the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't I pay a visit to my little brother?"

Arthur's eyebrow twitched dangerously. "I am asking you because you don't usually come here without reason."

Alistair smiled angelically at Arthur. Arthur, on the other hand, was glaring at his brother.

As Yao looked between the two brothers, he didn't know whether to remain silent or to speak up. To him, it was a bit unsettling how much Arthur disliked his siblings. Yao never had that problem – even if his siblings and him had their arguments, they got along very well. Mostly. Even when Kiku betrayed him – deep down, Yao knew he still loved Kiku and would eventually forgive him.

After a few moments of glaring, Arthur's shoulders slumped and he sighed. "Take what you want and go home, Alistair. I have no mood to deal with you right now."

Alistair looked at Arthur. He was still smiling. "I don't want anything," he replied. "I just thought I'd visit my little brother, so I came here. I just wanted to catch up with you – I don't think we have had a talk that didn't involve business for a while now. Yao answered the door when I rang – apparently, he wanted to cook something for you?" Alistair glanced at Yao for confirmation.

Yao blushed and nodded meekly.

"So I taught him how to make cottage pie – your favourite!"

Arthur shifted his gaze to look at Yao, who was fidgeting in embarrassment. "Well… It was my favourite growing up," Arthur mumbled.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure," deadpanned Alistair. "Anyway, your boyfriend is so sweet!"

Arthur didn't ask how Alistair knew that he and Yao were dating. He merely supposed that since Yao had the key to his house, Alistair assumed that there was something going on between them. Arthur's disdainful look transformed into a wide smile as he looked at Yao in adoration. He walked towards Yao and wrapped his arm around Yao's shoulder. "He is, isn't he?" Arthur kissed the top of Yao's head.

Alistair nodded enthusiastically. Arthur didn't deny the fact that Yao was his boyfriend, so it must be true. "He has a knack for cooking as well – all I needed to do was to tell him what to do, and he did it!"

"He cooks excellent Chinese food, so it's no surprise he could catch onto English cooking as well…" Arthur mused.

"Can the two of you stop talking about me as if I'm not here, aru?"

"Oh! Sorry, love," Arthur apologised and rubbed his hand against Yao's hair.

"Why don't you go change into something more comfortable, and Yao and I will finish this up?" chirped up Alistair. He grabbed Arthur's shoulders and began pushing him out of the kitchen.

"But… but…" In all honesty, Arthur didn't want to leave Yao alone with his brother. Who knew what Alistair would do to Yao?

Alistair caught Arthur's suspicious look at him. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "We've spent an entire morning alone together. Nothing is going to happen between us! I'm not going to take him away from you!"

Arthur glared at his brother. What nonsense was Alistair sprouting? He wasn't worried that Yao would fall for Alistair in the romantic sense. He was more afraid that Alistair would injure Yao like he did with Arthur when they were younger. "You…" Arthur pointed a finger at Alistair. "You don't touch him, okay?"

"Yes!"

Arthur then turned to Yao. "I'll see you shortly, okay?"

Yao nodded excitedly. "I hope my cottage pie is as delicious as the one your mother made!"

Arthur's eyes widened. No one had talked about Britannia ever since the day she died. His brothers may have mentioned her in passing, but there was never an in-depth discussion about their mother. "How…?" Arthur croaked.

"Oh," Yao covered his mouth in remorse. By the looks of it, Arthur's mother was a sensitive subject. He had no idea. "I'm sorry – it's just… Alistair told me that you enjoyed the pie your mother made."

"I see…" Arthur glanced sideways at Alistair, who was expressionless. It was a known fact that Arthur, being the youngest child of Britannia, was closest to his mother. So, her death hit him the worst. "It's okay," Arthur took Yao's hand and ran his thumb over the back of Yao's hand. "She's been gone for a long time – I'm over it. I was just surprised that you knew about her, that's all."

Yao shrugged. "I first heard of her from Rome – he spoke of a beautiful woman who represented the British Isles that he was dying to conquer," he explained. "But I didn't know she had children."

"Well, you're looking at two of them now!" said Alistair, grinning. He glanced at his younger brother. "Artie, you want to go change…?"

"Oh, yeah… sure…" Arthur shook his head vigorously to take his mind off his mother. "I'll see you guys shortly."

When Arthur left, Yao turned to Alistair. "I'm so sorry… It really was not in my place to talk about your mother, aru."

"It's okay," Alistair said, waving a hand. "It was a long time ago. We were really young then too."

Both Alistair and Yao peered into the oven. "It seems to be ready now. Do you want to take it out?" asked Alistair.

Yao put on a pair of oven mitts while Alistair switched the oven off. Yao took the Pyrex dish out of the oven and showed it to Alistair.

Alistair nodded in approval. "It looks brown enough, so we don't have to grill it," he told Yao.

"So it's ready to serve?"

"Yes!" Alistair clapped his hands together happily. "You can bring it out to the dining hall. Meanwhile, I'll get the plates and the cutlery."

Yao brought the cottage pie into the dining room and set it on the dining table. Arthur didn't usually entertain many guests in his house, and so had a rather small dining table, unlike Yao, whose dining table was large to accommodate his many siblings who often went to his house for meals. Arthur's dining table could perhaps fit four people. Maybe five, but even that would also be quite a squeeze.

Alistair came out with three plates and three sets of cutlery. "You don't mind me joining you guys, do you?"

Yao looked at Alistair incredulously. "Of course not!" he exclaimed. "It's your recipe, so you should get to taste the pie, aru! Besides, I maintain my philosophy of the more the merrier."

Alistair winked at Yao. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."

Yao turned pink. Arthur's brother liked him. That was a good thing, right?

* * *

That night, Alistair had promised to meet his two other brothers at a restaurant to have dinner. As soon as he entered the restaurant, he spotted his brothers, and they waved him over.

"So?"

"What?" Alistair raised an eyebrow. It was typical of his brother to get straight to the point and not beat around the bushes. But he liked to pretend to be clueless anyway.

"How's he?" Liam asked.

"He who?" Oh, Alistair was enjoying this.

Dylan rose from his seat and grabbed Alistair's collar, shaking his eldest brother. "Oh my god, Alistair, now is not the time to play oblivious!" Clearly, the British brothers were no stranger at being violent with each other.

Alistair smirked. "Serves you right for sending me to check out the love of Artie's life." He pried Dylan's fingers away from his collar and slid into the empty seat.

Dylan huffed and sunk back into the chair.

"Well, with you, Arthur wouldn't suspect that we were trying to check out his boyfriend," Liam reasoned. "He dislikes you the most."

"Oh yeah?" Alistair leaned forward towards Liam. "I AM the most suspicious one of all. I don't usually visit Arthur unless I have a reason. Even Arthur said that when he saw me at his house today!"

There was a brief silence.

"Oh right…" Liam giggled sheepishly. "We're sorry. We didn't think about it that way."

"So how's Artie's boyfriend?" Dylan asked, tossing a menu Alistair's way.

Arthur took the menu and leaned back in his chair. He flipped through it. "You know China? The big brother of all the Asian nations? His name is Yao?"

"Isn't he like, really old?" Liam frowned.

"He is!" Alistair exclaimed. "But he doesn't look old at all! In fact, he looks even younger than Artie!"

"Really?" Dylan and Liam chorused.

"He's nice, though. When he answered the door, he was initially cold towards me, but after learning that I am Arthur's brother, he warmed up immediately," elaborated Alistair. "Kinda like Artie himself."

"That stupid boy is always so hostile towards strangers…" Dylan ruminated.

"Oh! And he can cook!" cried Alistair. "He cooked the most delicious cottage pie today!"

"Ooh, that balances out Artie's cooking skills," said Liam gleefully.

Dylan chuckled. "It does, doesn't it?"

"Well, Yao told me that he and Arthur are planning to go for a movie tomorrow, so maybe one of you can join in?" Alistair said suggestively.

"I'll do it!" Liam immediately raised his hand.

Dylan face-palmed. "Are you sure you want to be a third wheel on their date?"

Alistair immediately turned towards Dylan with a haughty expression. "That serves Artie right for not telling us about his relationship in the first place! Especially since it's been going on for so long! We had to find out from Francis, of all people!"

Liam wagged his thick eyebrows. "I can cock-block them!"

"OH!" Alistair shot up in his seat in glee. "That's an excellent idea! Remember how Artie would get when he was frustrated?"

Dylan giggled, recalling Arthur's insane demeanour when he was denied the one thing he had been craving for. "Oh, good times. Good times."

"So, what's the plan tomorrow?" Liam asked.

"Artie and Yao are meeting at Arthur's favourite cinema at about 2pm. So you should be there before that," Alistair told Liam.

"Okay! Done and done!"

* * *

When Arthur reached the cinema and got out of his car, he started to look for Yao. Yao had said that he would wait for Arthur at the entrance, so they could go in together.

After a while, he spotted Yao talking to two men. Arthur's eyes narrowed when he recognised the men. They were his brothers, Dylan and Liam. By then, Arthur suspected that something was going on with his brothers – first it was Alistair, now it was Dylan and Liam. What could they be up to?

Arthur approached the trio.

Yao immediately caught sight of Arthur. He waved at Arthur joyfully.

"Hello," Arthur greeted Yao with a light peck on the lips. "Did you wait long?"

"No," replied Yao. "While I was waiting, I met Dylan and Liam, aru!" Yao gestured towards the two European men. "I kinda recognised they were related to you by their eyebrows," he said jokingly. "Although I should have recognised Alistair through those eyebrows as well yesterday…" Yao added sheepishly.

"Liam, Dylan," Arthur nodded curtly to both his brothers.

Dylan and Liam exchanged a knowing glance. At the last minute, Dylan decided to join Liam in their quest to annoy Arthur. He just couldn't resist an opportunity to irritate the Englishman.

"What are the two of you doing here?"

"We are here to watch a movie," announced Dylan and Liam together. It was as if they had rehearsed their speech.

"They are going to watch the same movie as us!" Yao piped in. "What a coincidence, aru!"

Arthur frowned and glared at his brothers. "What a coincidence, indeed," he muttered.

"Have you bought your tickets?" asked Liam.

"No," Yao replied. "We didn't book any either."

"Well, maybe we could buy them together!" suggested Liam. "We could probably sit together as well!"

Arthur's eyes widened in horror. He didn't want to be anywhere near his brothers, much less sit together! "I… I'm sure you don't want to sit with boring old me!" said Arthur uncomfortably.

Dylan waved a hand dismissively. "Of course we do! When was the last time we caught up with our little brother?"

Arthur looked unsurely at Yao. They exchanged a look. It was as though a silent exchange was going on between them.

_Maybe we could watch a different movie?_

_But didn't you say you have been wanting to watch this movie? Besides, why don't you want to watch it with your brothers?_

_Because they annoy the hell out of me!_

_They don't seem that annoying to me. They're just looking out for you._

_As if! They're just waiting for me to snap and laugh at my face!_

_Well, I think you should not let them bother you. Just watch the movie and enjoy yourself._

Finally, Arthur sighed. "Okay," he said. "Let's go get our tickets."

Dylan and Liam grinned at each other. "We'll get them," Dylan offered. "It's only fair, since we are interrupting on your date."

"Oh." Arthur was surprised by his brother's offer. "Well, here's some-" He reached into his pocket to grab some money to give Dylan, but Liam pulled his hand out of his pocket.

"It's on us, okay?" Liam said, smiling.

"Uh…" Arthur didn't quite know what to make of his brothers' kindness. He looked over at Yao, who looked as clueless as he felt. "Okay."

As Dylan left the group to buy their movie tickets, Liam turned towards Yao and put his arm around Yao's shoulder. "So Yao… tell me how you and my little brother met."

"Er…" Yao moved his gaze towards Arthur, who was looking very uncomfortable by then. They had quite an ugly, blood-stained past, and Arthur and Yao didn't really like to talk about it. "Enemies, then allies, then lovers," Yao finally said. "Your typical love story, aru."

"Oh?" Liam looked at Yao and then at Arthur. He decided not to pry too deeply. It looked like Yao clearly didn't want to talk about it, and it wouldn't be right to make him just to aggravate Arthur. Yao seemed like a nice person, and he didn't want to deliberately upset him. "Well, it sounds interesting," Liam commented offhandedly.

Dylan returned moments later with their movie tickets. "Got them!" he said.

Arthur moved to take Yao's hand, but Liam's arm was still around Yao's shoulder. Liam swerved his body around, bringing Yao with him, and led Yao into the cinema. "So I've heard pretty good reviews about this movie…" he was beginning to say to Yao.

However, what Liam was saying was lost on Arthur's ears. Arthur scowled at Liam's back in disdain. How dare his brother butt in on his and Yao's date, and take off with Yao? Arthur then glared at Dylan, who shrugged with an innocent expression before turning around to dash after Liam and Yao, leaving Arthur behind.

"Argh!" yelled Arthur to himself. _Those two bastards are so infuriating! _Arthur willed himself to calm down and pick up his feet to trudge after them.

* * *

Later that evening, Arthur and Yao decided to go to Yao's place for dinner.

Being nations, Arthur and Yao could travel to and from countries quickly and with ease, so it didn't take them long to get to Yao's home. Arthur was sulking throughout the whole journey there. He still couldn't believe the nerve of his brothers, undermining him and sticking their noses into Yao's and his date. Arthur didn't even have a chance to speak privately to Yao the entire date! His brothers hogged the conversation with Yao. That, to him, was too much.

"You don't mind Japanese, do you?" Yao was asking Arthur as they made their way towards the entrance of Yao's house. "Kiku's cooking tonight."

"Mmhmm," mumbled Arthur.

Yao frowned. It wasn't like his partner to be so quiet. "What's wrong, aru? You have been silent the entire way here," said Yao. He lifted Arthur's chin with a finger so that Arthur was facing him.

"Nothing," said Arthur. He turned his face away so that Yao could not see him moping.

"Liar," admonished Yao. He pressed both his palms against Arthur's cheeks and directed Arthur's face towards him, so that Arthur was once again facing him. "Tell me what's wrong."

Arthur sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment.

Yao waited for him to speak. But his hands never left Arthur's head.

"It's my brothers, okay? They upset me," said Arthur.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know," Arthur shrugged uncomfortably. "When we were growing up, they always bullied me."

"You resent them for that, aru?"

"No, not really," admitted Arthur. "I just don't like it that they're suddenly taking you away from me," Arthur grumbled.

Yao laughed. He released Arthur's face from his hands as his hands dropped to his sides. "Arthur, no one can take me away from you. I love you."

"But…" Arthur protested. "My brothers do not interact with me without any reason!" he cried. "Yesterday, what with Alistair turning up with no reason and teaching you how to make cottage pie… and today with Dylan and Liam turning up at the cinema and flirting with you. It's too coincidental! I didn't want to think it at first, but I'm telling you, they want you! They've always taken what's mine!"

Yao rolled his eyes but nevertheless was smiling affectionately at Arthur. "Arthur, I barely know them. They barely know me. We've just been conversing innocently, I swear, aru!"

Arthur didn't say anything to that. He merely pouted.

"I wouldn't leave you for them. I love you," Yao assured Arthur, taking Arthur's hand gently. "Also… I doubt I'd fall for any of them – they have pretty big shoes to fill, if you know what I mean." He winked at Arthur.

Arthur looked at Yao uncertainly. "Really?"

Yao smiled up at Arthur lovingly. He brushed his finger down Arthur's right cheek. "Really," he confirmed.

"I love you." Arthur leaned forward and kissed Yao deeply on the lips.

* * *

Two days later, Yao was doing his weekly grocery shopping. He had intended to finish up and spend a quiet afternoon alone.

But it looked like fate(?) had something else planned.

"Yao!"

Yao swivelled around at the call of his name. To his surprise, he saw Liam carrying a basket, walking towards him and waving a hand excitedly. "Liam? What are you doing here, aru?"

Liam swayed his free arm slightly. "Sometimes I like to travel away from my country. It helps to get away from it all sometimes."

"Oh." Yao completely understood. When it got too much for him to handle, Yao often left China to take a break from the geopolitical issues of his country.

"So what are you doing?"

"Just the weekly shopping chore," replied Yao. "Nothing particularly interesting."

"I see," said Liam. "Well, I just dropped by here to buy some snacks to eat on the way back." He showed Yao the basket he was carrying. Indeed, it was filled with potato chips, corn chips and chocolate.

Yao decided that he should be polite, especially since Liam was visiting his country. "I'm almost done here, aru. Why don't we go and have some tea?"

"Tea?"

"Arthur is quite fond of tea," Yao informed Liam. "So I assumed you would be too?"

"Oh, right… Yes, I rather like tea."

"I'll take you for tea!" announced Yao. "But Chinese tea may be fairly different from Western tea, aru…"

"It's okay," Liam said. "I'm flexible when it comes to tea. I'm interested to know how Chinese people drink their tea as well."

"Great!" Yao grinned. "Just let me get some dry noodles and pay, and then we can go for tea!"

* * *

The next day, Yao went over to Arthur's home for lunch. Arthur greeted him with a kiss on his forehead.

Since Arthur couldn't cook, he had opted to take-away some Carbonara pasta from a nearby Italian deli.

Arthur and Yao ate their meal in comfortable silence. After the meal, Arthur told Yao to make himself comfortable in the living room while he cleared the table and put the dirty plates in the dishwasher.

So, Yao sat on the sofa. He looked through all of Arthur's magazines that were under the coffee table, looking for one that piqued his interest.

However, before Yao found one, Arthur slipped onto the three-seater couch beside Yao. He wrapped his arms around Yao's small waist. "So what do you want to do now?" he murmured into Yao's ear.

Yao turned his head to the side to look at Arthur. "We could hang here for now, and maybe go to the park later, aru?"

"Sounds good to me."

Arthur and Yao sat in silence, with Arthur nuzzling into Yao's neck, before Yao broke the silence. "Oh, I meant to tell you… I ran into Liam yesterday."

Arthur froze. "What?"

"I ran into Liam yesterday," Yao repeated.

Arthur's eyes narrowed and he pulled his hand away from Yao. "Where?" he asked in a clipped voice.

"In the supermarket," Yao replied. "I invited him for tea, because he was a visitor in my country, and I was technically the host… I hope you don't mind, aru."

"No," Arthur gritted out. "I'm not mad at you."

"Please don't be angry..." Yao begged, placing a hand placatingly over Arthur's. "It didn't mean anything!"

Arthur harrumphed. "Yeah right," he snorted. "What was he doing there in the first place? Why travel so far from Ireland?"

"He said it was to get away from it all, aru," Yao said in a small voice.

"I tell you – I know him well enough! He is stalking you!"

"I don't-" Yao started to say, but was interrupted when Arthur leapt onto him. Yao yelped when his back came into contact with the sofa. "Arthur, what are you-?"

Arthur clamped his lips over Yao's lips, drowning out whatever it was that Yao was trying to say. "That's it – I'm going to show them that you're mine. Mine only," growled Arthur.

Yao let out a moan when Arthur kissed him again, this time thrusting his tongue into Yao's mouth.

Yao's eyes slipped close. He revelled in the arousing sensations that Arthur was eliciting from within him.

Arthur dislodged his mouth from Yao's lips and began kissing Yao's neck.

Yao made a dissatisfied whine when Arthur pulled away from his mouth.

Arthur's left hand snaked up towards Yao's mouth. His fingers tapped lightly against Yao's lips, and immediately, Yao opened his mouth to take in Arthur's fingers and suck on them.

Arthur's breath hitched as he felt the pressure on his fingers. He didn't stop attacking Yao's neck.

Yao felt his head being tilted further back, exposing more of his throat to Arthur.

Arthur suddenly bit down hard on Yao's neck. Yao cried out in surprise. But his cry slowly turned into soft keening sounds as Arthur sucked relentlessly on the area he had bit. "You like that, don't you?"

Yao was incapable of replying. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Arthur's torso, encouraging him to continue his ministrations. Yao's hips involuntarily bucked up to meet Arthur's.

Arthur smirked. He didn't want to have sex with Yao at that time of the day. In his opinion, it was way too early to be engaging in such activities. But Arthur wanted to mark Yao. He wanted to stake his claim on Yao, so that his brothers would stay away from Yao.

Arthur continued kissing and biting Yao's neck. When a number of love bites had appeared on Yao's neck, Arthur finally stopped. He lifted his head and gazed at Yao, admiring his handiwork.

"What was that for, aru?!" gasped Yao. He was lying on his back, panting heavily.

"Nothing," replied Arthur with feigned innocence. "I was just making my mark on you."

"What?!" Yao pushed Arthur off him. He ran to the bathroom, leaving behind a smug-looking Arthur.

There was a brief moment of silence. Then…

"ARTHUR!"

"Yes, dear?" Arthur called out.

"My neck is littered with love-bites, aru!" Yao reappeared at the doorway. His face was red with embarrassment.

"So?" inquired Arthur. He still had on his face a very self-satisfied expression.

"Oh my god," muttered Yao, rubbing his neck. "My brothers are going to tease me about this!"

"At least that will keep MY brothers away from you!" retorted Arthur. "When you're mine, you're MINE! I don't share!"

"Arthur…" Yao made his way towards Arthur and knelt down in front of him. He placed his right hand gently on Arthur's lap. "Nothing is going on between your brothers and me. I am not going to leave you for any of them."

Arthur sniffed. "How do you know?!"

"Arthur, I'm not in love with any of them," Yao replied. "I am in love with you, aru."

"But…"

"I'm not so easily swayed, you know."

"I know, but…"

"I love you."

Arthur stared at Yao for a while. Then, he closed his eyes and exhaled loudly in defeat. "I know. I know you love me," he said softly. "But when it comes to my brothers, I get really insecure about myself." Arthur paused. He reached out to touch the marks he had made on Yao's throat. "And I'm sorry for leaving those marks on you."

Yao moved to sit on the sofa beside Arthur. "That's okay, aru. What's done is done."

"I'm really sorry," Arthur apologised meekly. "I don't know why I was so possessive suddenly…"

"Hey, I already forgave you," Yao said, running a finger down the side of Arthur's face. "So let's forget it and leave it at that? I'll just wear turtlenecks and try not to draw too much attention to my neck, aru."

Arthur nodded meekly. He glanced at Yao unsurely. "I don't suppose you're still in the mood to go to the park after what I did?"

Yao looked at Arthur. "Don't be daft!" Momentarily, his eyes widened as he realised what he had just said. Arthur must be rubbing off on Yao if he was starting to sound like Arthur. Nevertheless, Yao's expression melted into an affectionate one, and he grabbed Arthur's hand and pulled him off the sofa.

* * *

Needless to say, Yao received a lot of teasing from his brothers for the love-bites Arthur had made on his neck. Especially from Yong Soo and Hong Kong.

That was, until Yao threatened to kick them out of his house and never let them in again.

* * *

Yao had a couple of young pandas living in his backyard. But being pandas, they were often sleeping, and usually were only awake when it was time to eat.

However, currently was an exception – the pandas were wide awake and running around in Yao's backyard, playing on the small slide Yao had set up for them. Hong Kong was playing a little game of tag with the pandas – he was hopping up and down the slide as the pandas chased after him, darting their short legs about as they tried to keep up with Hong Kong.

Arthur was watching Hong Kong frolic about with the pandas. He actually had the day off and had gone to Yao's place to spend the day with Yao, but Yao's boss had turned up, saying that he had some important matters to discuss with Yao. He assured Arthur that they wouldn't be long, so Arthur opted to wait for Yao in his backyard.

It just so happened that Hong Kong was there feeding bamboo to the pandas and had decided to engage in a game with them.

Arthur watched in amusement as Hong Kong pretended to trip and fall, thus allowing the pandas to catch up with him. The pandas leapt onto Hong Kong excitedly, burrowing their faces into his body. Hong Kong laughed; he was clearly enjoying himself.

Then, the doorbell rang.

Arthur mostly ignored it. After all, it was Yao's house, and the guest was most likely for Yao or one of his siblings. It didn't concern Arthur at all.

Hong Kong was now lying on the ground. The pandas were happily sitting on his stomach and his chest. There were some bamboo shoots on the grass beside Hong Kong, so he took them with one hand and held them out for the pandas to chew on.

"Artie! Here you are!"

Arthur visibly winced at hearing THAT voice. He swivelled his head around.

Smirking down at Arthur was his brother, Alistair.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nothing," replied Alistair innocently. "I had nothing to do, so I thought I'd drop by and see how my beloved brother's boyfriend was doing. I want to make sure everything's going well."

"That's it!" cried Arthur, shooting up from his seat. "Why are you doing this?!"

Hong Kong and the pandas were shocked by Arthur's sudden outburst. All of them turned to stare at Arthur.

"Doing what?"

"Don't play dumb with me! You know what I mean!"

"Artie, I honestly don't."

Arthur was getting very impatient by then. "Why are you suddenly taking interest in my life? And what more, my boyfriend?! For the past few days, you guys have been stalking Yao and turning up at random places and random times…!"

Alistair remained silent.

"Are you trying to take my boyfriend away from me?! Because if you are, let me tell you this-"

Then, Alistair burst out laughing.

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Let me finish! And what are you laughing about?! What's so funny?!" he demanded.

"Artie," Alistair said in between his laughter. "We are not trying to take Yao away from you. If anything, we are happy for you."

Arthur looked at his brother incredulously. Alistair and his brothers were… happy for him? Somehow, that didn't sit right with Arthur.

"We're just pissed that you didn't tell us that you and Yao were dating. That's why we keep barging in on you and Yao. Do you know who we had to find out from? Francis, of all people!"

"I didn't think you'd want to know," replied Arthur in a small voice. "You all have never paid much attention to what's been happening in my life…"

"The little things – not really. But this is huge! This is our baby Artie dating! Come on!"

"Okay, okay – I get it, I get it!" Arthur scowled at being referred to as 'our baby Artie'. "I'm sorry, okay?! I'm sorry I didn't tell you!"

"But in all honesty, we're happy for you. I was just telling Dylan a few weeks ago before we discovered that you were dating someone that I've never seen you happier," Alistair told Arthur, smiling wistfully. "I'm glad he makes you happy."

"He does," Arthur replied. His scowl turned into a happy smile. "He does make me happy."

"We won't interrupt any more of your time together, unless invited, okay?"

Arthur nodded. He was satisfied with that arrangement.

"Well, since I'm here already…" Alistair looked around Yao's backyard and caught sight of the pandas, which were still chewing on the bamboo shoots. "Oh! Are those pandas?!"

Arthur looked towards Hong Kong and the pandas. "Yeah."

"Can I play with them?" Now Arthur's eldest brother seemed like a little kid.

"I guess," Arthur shrugged. "But I don't really know how to handle them. But Hong Kong should be able to guide you." Arthur waved at Hong Kong and gestured for him to leave the pandas for a while and come over.

"What's up?" asked Hong Kong in his deadpan voice when he approached Arthur and Alistair.

"Hong Kong, this is my brother, Alistair. Alistair, Hong Kong," Arthur introduced the two men. "Hong Kong, Alistair would like to play with the pandas, do you think you could give him a hand?"

Hong Kong regarded Alistair. "Sure," he finally replied. "Pandas are very easy to handle…" he was telling Alistair as they headed away from Arthur and towards the pandas.

Arthur reclaimed his seat and leaned back on the chair. So his brothers weren't trying to steal his boyfriend away from him. They were just upset that they weren't the first to know of Arthur and Yao's relationship. Arthur heaved a sigh of relief. He got worked up over nothing.

Arthur was so engrossed in his thoughts that when Yao wrapped his arms around Arthur's torso from behind, he literally jumped.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you, aru?"

"It's okay," Arthur replied. He pulled Yao onto his lap. "I was just reflecting on the past week."

"Hm?" Yao draped an arm around Arthur's shoulder.

"Nothing of importance," assured Arthur.

"And why, may I ask, is your brother here?"

Arthur's eyes darted over to where Alistair was. He was patting one of the pandas, as Hong Kong encouraged him along. "He wanted to be a nuisance," deadpanned Arthur.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind," said Arthur. "He won't be bothering us anymore."

"What?" Yao was confused. What was Arthur talking about?

"Don't worry about it," Arthur said.

Yao looked at Arthur for a moment. Then he shrugged. "If you say so, aru," he said. "Should I invite Alistair in for tea then?"

Arthur glanced at his brother, who was now chasing a panda that had gone astray. "You could," he replied, and wrapped a protective arm around Yao's body.

"Okay, you call him. I'm going to prepare the tea and get some snacks out," Yao told Arthur. "And call Hong Kong too," he added as an afterthought. "Just make sure the pandas are back in their shelter, aru. I'll get Kiku from inside."

"Yes, love," said Arthur as Yao slid off his lap to make his way indoors.

"'Stair!" Arthur raised his hand and called his brother by his childhood nickname. It used to be that Arthur called Alistair "Ali", but Alistair thought it sounded too girly, so he made Arthur call him "'Stair" instead. "Hong Kong!"

Both males in question turned and looked in Arthur's direction.

"Yao's preparing tea inside," Arthur yelled towards the duo. "Want to come in and have some?"

"Okay," Hong Kong called back. He turned towards Alistair. "You go on in first, I have to get these pandas into their shelter. If not, brother Yao will like, blow his top."

Mentally, Alistair tried to picture Yao literally blowing his top. He snickered silently. "Okay," he replied, and headed towards Arthur.

Hong Kong watched as Alistair joined Arthur, and the brothers exchanged a brief conversation before heading inside. The two brothers DID look alike – there was a family resemblance between them. Hong Kong couldn't understand why Arthur was always complaining about his brothers. That was, when he spoke of them, which was quite infrequent.

* * *

Yao was spending the night at Arthur's place. He had already washed up, brushed his teeth and gotten dressed for bed, and was now lying on his side with his head propped up on his hand, observing Arthur as he read a novel before bed. Yao was admiring Arthur's shirtless body. But more specifically, Yao was admiring Arthur's handsome face. Arthur was wearing his glasses, which he wore only when he read, due to not being able to see small font properly at close distances. Arthur generally didn't like to wear his glasses – he thought it made him look nerdy. But Yao thought he looked sexy in them. Though, he preferred to keep that to himself – that way, Arthur didn't go out of his way to wear his glasses all the time just for Yao, and on the rare occasion when he did, Yao could appreciate it even more.

"You know what's strange, aru?"

Arthur looked up at Yao. He placed his bookmark into his book to mark where he'd stopped reading, and then put his book on the side-table. "What?"

"As mysteriously as your brothers have appeared into my life, they've disappeared just as mysteriously as well."

Arthur chuckled and leaned towards Yao, kissing him on his head. "Why are you thinking of my siblings?"

"No reason," Yao replied, flopping onto his back. "Just an observation."

"Well," Arthur began, removing his glasses and placing them on top of his book on the side-table. "They basically interacted with you to piss me off."

"Oh?" Yao looked mildly interested. "I thought they wanted to get to know me better." There was no mistaking the hurt tone in his voice. So Arthur's brothers had no interest at all in Arthur's boyfriend? It was all just to make Arthur angry?

"Maybe that too – I mean, who wouldn't want to get to know you better, right?" replied Arthur. "But they mainly wanted to piss me off."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't tell them that we were dating."

Yao's eyes widened. "You mean… they didn't know? I thought the whole world knew, aru!"

"Yeah, I thought the news would spread to them via general gossip," explained Arthur. "And in a way, it did… through Francis… but they were angry that they didn't hear it from me first."

Yao laughed heartily. He rolled onto his side so that he was facing Arthur. He reached out and took Arthur's hand in his. "And why didn't you tell them?"

"I don't know," Arthur shrugged. "It never occurred to me to tell them. I mean, they minded their own business, and I minded my own business. I never thought they'd be interested anyway," he reasoned.

Yao snorted. "You have such a strange relationship with your brothers," he observed.

"Well, you Asians are more used to large households, and so can maintain such good relationships with your siblings," Arthur reasoned. "Whereas, my brothers and I… we were brought up to be rather selfish – it's survival of the fittest, every man for himself."

Yao didn't say anything in reply to that. In truth, his heart ached for Arthur, who didn't really know of familial love between brothers and sisters, as he had never really experienced it. Yao didn't know what he would do if one day, his siblings disappeared from his life. He would be devastated.

"I'm sorry, aru," Yao finally said. "I didn't think… I didn't think…"

Arthur smiled warmly and rubbed his thumb against the back of Yao's hand. "I'm used to it," he replied. "It's okay."

Yao looked thoughtful after that. "Why don't we have dinner with your brothers one day? It'll give them a chance to catch up with you."

Arthur shrugged nonchalantly. Or at least, what he thought was nonchalant. Inside, he was tensing up at the thought of seeing all three of his brothers at once. "I can call them and see."

Yao beamed. He was determined to improve the relationship between Arthur and his brothers. "I'm sure they'd be delighted, aru."


End file.
